Expenses Reviews
4.21 / 5 based on 23 reviews

Useful |
2
greg8
Expenses
Main source of funding:
Family
Other sources of funding:
none
Work opportunities:
I didn't explore any work options
Personal spending habits
I spent more money in Tanzania than I would normally back home because I would always have to assume all financial responsibilites for my friends whenever we were involved in any activities which required spending money. My Tanzanian friends simply did not have any money to spare. I accepted this because that was the reality. Although, food in general was quite cheap, going out to restaurants or nightclubs with friends could get expensive in a hurry. Tanzania is extremely impovershed, with a huge gap between the desperately poor majority and the rich minority.
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Nightlife, Overall:
was more expensive than at home.
Travel:
was the same price as at home.
Housing, Food, Telephone:
was less expensive than at home.
Accessibility of student needs
Second-hand household items
Personal comments
Only one office in the entire city of Dar-es-Salaam sells American Express traveler's checks - it is called Rickshaw Travel (across from the former Sheraton hotel). Cashing traveler's checks is not a problem, you can do it almost anywhere in the city. I highly recommend having a Visa credit card. There are a handful of ATM machines in the city, but only one accepted Master Card, whereas all accepted Visa. I would also recommend bringing traveler's checks with you when you come to Tanzania, because getting money can be quite tiresome and stressful often times. There does exist Western Union and Money Gram wiring services in the city. I also know of some students who had opened bank acounts in Dar, but I'm not sure if it's really worth the effort. My primary cost-saving tip is to get comfortable with bargaining. Typically there are no set prices for commodities, particularly food items. - Knock about 50% off the original price, then gradually increase what you will be willing to pay. Knowing some basic words and phrases in Swahili will greatly help you. The prices of products sold in stores, on the other hand, are generarlly fixed.
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Useful |
0
Veronique C
Expenses
Main source of funding:
Family
Other sources of funding:
Government assistance
Work opportunities:
It was not legal for me to work
Personal spending habits
we did pay tution fees in the UK since we had to do our exams there. Furthermore we paid approximately the same on accomodation and paid some extra tution fees at the host university as well. Food on the other side due to the fact of being in a developing country was cheap.
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Travel, Telephone, Overall:
was more expensive than at home.
Nightlife, Housing:
was the same price as at home.
Food:
was less expensive than at home.
Accessibility of student needs
Second-hand household items
Personal comments
we did take all our money in traveler cheques before going abroad.
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